I know this question is kind of vague but we all heard the story about how King Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic Church so he could have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled.
I got to thinking: personal ambitions and a preference for a male heir aside, was this really a good idea? Was making the English church independent from Rome and antagonizing Catholic kingdoms like Spain a smart move for English interests as a whole?
It certainly expanded the king's power and role in the church. The dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by Thomas Cromwell gave all of their lands and treasures directly to the Crown, some of that wealth was given to pensions for monks and the people to avoid anger across England, which was still largely a Catholic country. All direct payments to the Pope were halted and the Archbishop of Canterbury was given power to a wide range of dispensation that had previously only been granted by the Papacy. In short, more power was given to the King previously held by the Pope and England was once again a sovereign nation unanswerable to any higher authority. So if you were Henry VIII then I guess the Reformation was pretty sweet.